(Not Applicable.)
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tapes useful for sealing cartons and which indicate whether a package has been tampered with after sealing.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
For over a century, mail order fulfillment has represented an increasingly important part of the economy. In a typical transaction, a customer orders a number of products, and the same are sent to him. As is apparent, the security of the package containing the products is an issue. Not too many years ago, security wias often limited to simple brown kraft paper and twine. To a large extent the (security of the contents of a package so wrapped depended largely upon the integrity of the individuals handling the package. No doubt, the thought was that relatively honest individuals were not likely to tamper with a package which was wrapped and tied with string.
However, in principle, such packages could easily be untied, opened, pilfered and rewrapped. Moreover, this could be done in a manner which was substantially not detectable.
Another very old way of sealing packages involved the use of adhesive tape. Such packages are, inherently, more resistant to tampering, because the tape cannot be easily removed, and when it is removed obvious scarring of the package, involving ripping and the like, occurs. Thus, if a customer receives a package, whose condition indicates that it has been tampered with and whose contents indicate some shortage as compared to the product ordered, the customer would be expected to alert the supplier, complain about the shortage, and advise of the fact that the package was tampered with. Upon receiving such advice, the shipper would then know that it was likely that all of the products ordered were in the box when it was sealed, but that some person along the chain of transport opened the box, removed the missing items and re-sealed the package. This would provide relatively focused information with respect to the identity of the culprits. If the situation were monitored, the names of potential wrongdoers could be tabulated and compared for various incidents, and a suspect could be identified.
While, in principle, the above strategy may still work, more sophisticated approaches to crime may substantially compromise or eliminate the possibility of detection of pilfering of simply tape sealed packages. For example, if the tape used has a water-based glue, the tape may be subjected to steam and removed from a box without damage to the box or the tape.
To overcome the last problem a so-called self adhesive tape may be used. Such a tape has an adhesive which is sticky all the time and does not require the application of water. Such adhesives are commonly used in clear cellophane and plastic tapes. In such cases, the adhesive is also made clear to preserve the transparent nature of the plastic tape. Whether or not such plastic tape is clear or not, tampering is performed by using a razor to slit open the tape sealing the carton. The carton is then opened, and some of the items in the carton or removed by the wrongdoer. The carton is then re-sealed with clear adhesive tape to preserve the look of the original carton. Indeed, such an approach will also work with cartons sealed with tapes bearing water-based adhesives. When the width of the tape being sealed is matched by the clear adhesive tape, used to re-seal the package, the disturbance is hardly noticeable.
Accordingly, alternative strategies have been devised to address such tampering. One such strategy is incorporated in a product sold by the applicant for a number of years. This product comprises a conventional tape with a water-based or self-adhesive. The tape may be paper or plastic. In this product, the outside face of the tape, that is the side of the tape without the adhesive, is printed with a pattern. The pattern is printed in two kinds of ink, one of the inks being of a permanent nature, and the other having the characteristic of the being able to migrate when covered with an adhesive of the type used in self-adhesive transparent tape.
More particularly, after the package has been sealed, if a razor is used to slit open the tape, and transparent tape used to cover the original tape after the package been tampered with and pilfered, the non-permanent ink is brought into contact with the adhesive on the transparent tape. This non-permanent ink then begins to bleed into and the migrate through the adhesive, resulting in that ink turning into a cloudy and pale blur. The remaining permanent ink then forms a permanent and bright image or message indicating tampering. This message may take the form of the word xe2x80x9cvoidxe2x80x9d, the words xe2x80x9ctampered withxe2x80x9d, or even a message such as xe2x80x9cDo not acceptxe2x80x9d, or the like.
As can be imagined, strategies may be or have been developed for avoiding detection associated with hidden message tamper indicating tapes. More particularly, the possibility exists that an opaque tape may be used to tape over slit tape. In an effort to provide a defense to this approach, I have suggested in my earlier U. S. Pat. No. 5,633,058 that the top of the tape may be coated with a material which prevents tape from being adhered to it. However, such a strategy does not work against all attempts to apply fresh tape. For example, all that is necessary to be done to overcome this defense is to apply tape having a width wider than the tape which has been slit. Nevertheless, it must be noted that such an attempt to avoid the effectiveness of the security tape does evidence tampering.
Moreover, as wrongdoers may come to recognize certain tape patterns as being likely to be tamper indicating patterns, such tamper indicating tapes become susceptible to being ineffective. For example, the possibility exists that such a tape may be carefully peeled off and then the package resealed.
However, the problem with this tape was that if the culprit retained the package for a length of time, he might notice the bleeding beginning to occur and would be tipped off to the problem. In such event, the tape could be carefully peeled off, and a suitable, usually nonxe2x80x94transparent and wider tape used to re-seal the package.
Yet another approach employed in the prior art is the use of a frangible layer for indicating pilfering. Generally, the frangible layer is adhered to the package more strongly than it is adhered to the tape, resulting in the formation of a tamper indication message upon removal of tape from the carton.
The present invention solves the above problems. It solves the problem of providing a tamper-indicating tape for sealing corrugated cardboard packages, as well as other packages commonly in use today. The tamper indication is provided with features which are designed to defeat clear tape overtaping, and wider tape overtaping. At the same time, the need for a coating which prevents adhesion during an over-taping operation is eliminated. Also at the same time, the inventive system provides economies in manufacture and use. In addition to the above, the inventive system provides a high degree of protection from identification as the tamper-resistant tape. Finally the same is achieved in a system which is resistant to peeling and re-sealing.
The same is achieved through the use of pre-cut lengths of tape. The pre-cut lengths of tape comprise a base tape member provided, on its top face, with a tamper indicating ink pattern printed with a first type of ink, and a camouflage ink pattern printed in a second type of ink. The underside of the tape is covered, at least in part, with the first release layer. The underside of the tape with the adhesion prevention layer on it is covered by a second release layer. An adhesive is then applied over the second release layer to complete the active adhesion portion of the tape. The third release layer is disposed over the layer of adhesive and, in turn, is adhered to a bottom member.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment, an additional measure of protection may be achieved using a four ink printing process. In particular, the tape is over printed with a pattern consisting, to the naked eye, of a relatively highly featured and complex pattern in two ink colors. In point in fact, the two ink colors are printed in four different inks, with two of the inks comprising tamper indicating pigments.
The inventive system provides the above advantages, while at the same time resulting in uniformity in the quality and strength of packaging, while minimizing waste of materials, with resultant economies in in package cost and preservation of contents.
As noted above, frangible message indicating systems are often implemented in the form of systems which employee easily removable adhesives. This is the case because there is a desire to preserve the packages, or trays, or other supplies for repeated use. In accordance with the present invention, it is contemplated that more sophisticated wrongdoers may decide upon the strategy of cutting and then taping over security tapes known to have frangible messages. In accordance with the invention, structure is provided in a frangible tape system which prevents such evasive strategy.
The preferred embodiments of the adhesive preventing system according to the invention include a flexible tape member having an upper and a lower side, the upper side being printed with two patterns in two different inks, one of which migrates through the flexible tape member. On the lower side is printed a pattern that does not absorb the migrating ink. The lower side is then covered with a frangible layer and an adhesive layer. The flexible tape member may be elongated; alternatively, the tape member may be a sticker.
The adhesive preventing system may contain a backer member disposed over and protecting the adhesive layer.
The patterns printed on the upper side of the flexible tape member may be printed in the same color to produce a camouflage effect on the tape. Furthermore, the patterns printed on the underside of the flexible tape member may be printed in a pattern different from that printed on the upper side.
The frangible layer may overlay only those portions of the system on which there are no patterns. The flexible tape member may contain a clear or translucent window in it to cover over existing copy on a carton while at the same time protecting the carton through the use of the tape features. Furthermore, the tape may have disposed upon it a coating that enables the tape to be easily written on.
The tape may have serrations along at least one of its edges that cause the tape to tear into strips when it is peeled away from those edges, or it may have perforations in it at various points that cause it to tear into strips when it is peeled away from those openings.
Furthermore, in accordance with the invention the tape may be made of acetate, it may be sequentially numbered on either the face of the tape or on its back, it may be self wound and capable of being dispensed either from a tape gun or dispensed automatically. Additional features include the ability to print on the tape ,in any language. Finally, the second pattern printed on the face side of the tape that is capable of migrating through the adhesive is in the form of a logo, a design, or the wording of another language.